It is rare that Akira Toriyama and Rumiko Takahashi, the two most popular mangaka in Japanese manga history give interviews, but we had an opportunity to talk about manga and anime with them.

First of all, we asked them to tell us about their new anime Dragon Ball and Maison Ikkoku!!

You are both writing very different stories than your previous series, going from Dr. Slump to Dragon Ball and from Urusei Yatsura to Maison Ikkoku. Please give us some comments about this?

Toriyama: For one thing, I wanted to change tempos and structures so as to draw a clear line between the old and new series. For example, I drew Dr. Slump in an American-like style and am writing Dragon Ball in a Chinese-like style.

Takahashi: Eventually, if you don’t change the tempos of your stories, making a new story becomes meaningless. And sometimes I can draw new manga because I changed tempos.

Toriyama: It would be difficult to draw manga if you don’t change your stories.

So, what elements did you take special care with when you changed the tempos of the stories?

Toriyama: I made it a rule not to play around this time. I reduced play-things as much as possible. When I wrote Dr. Slump, I really played with my stories. For instance, I myself appeared in the manga…(laughs). But this time the story is important.

How about you, Takahashi?

Takahashi: I have wanted to write apartment stories for awhile. In the past I lived in an apartment in Nakano. And next to my apartment, there was another strange apartment on the verge of collapsing.

So, is the life at that apartment the inspiration for Maison Ikkoku?

Takahashi: To be honest, that is not the only one. My room, for instance…

Perhaps, your room was empty like Godai’s.

Takahashi: Yeah! There was nothing more than what was necessary for living. These days’ people don’t live in shabby houses like that. In my mind, I imagined just a bed and stereo, etc.

Toriyama: I often take my ideas from my experiences as well.

Takahashi: Speaking of which, I think it was a few years after Maison Ikkoku began its run. One day I went back to my hometown, and for some reason I read my diary from my high school days. I was really convinced that the writer of this diary was destined to write Maison Ikkoku. And I thought that showed through there.

Who is the artist who played the greatest role in the “globalization” of Japanese manga?

It might be Akira Toriyama, whose Dragon Ball became synonymous with manga. Or it might be Katsuhiro Otomo, who showed his skill at precise description in Akira, or Naoko Takeuchi, who excited enthusiasm among girls across Europe and the United States with her Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon. Or maybe it’s Fujio F. Fujiko, as there can hardly be a child in Asia who doesn’t know Doraemon.

All these names are necessary when talking about Japanese manga’s foreign expansion.

But I’m beginning to think it may be the works of Rumiko Takahashi that showed the world the essence of manga more widely and deeply in and after the 1980s.

For more than 20 years, Rumiko Takahashi has created some of the most beloved manga (Japanese comic) titles, which have, in turn, been adapted into popular anime series that are a veritable who’s-who of classic Japanese animation. One of the most popular series created from her manga, InuYasha, has been a big hit on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim for a couple of years now.

Takahashi has amassed an enviable record as the creator of numerous beloved series. Manga and anime such as Rumic World, Maison Ikkoku, Urusei Yatsura, Ranma 1/2, and InuYasha are well known to many longtime anime fans, and they’re all Takahashi creations. Even more remarkable about her career is the fact that she is among the few female creators of shounen manga (comics predominantly intended for a male audience, although they can and do have a following among women as well).

Takahashi boasts a clean yet subtly detailed artistic style that can depict action or slapstick comedy with equal aplomb. She’s expert at eliciting amusement with her characters’ exaggerated facial expressions. On the writing side, her love of puns, wacky situations, and romance has led her to create some of the most unique and beloved manga series ever, each of which balances comedy and romance in varying proportions. Her superb and memorable characters have also won her acclaim and adoration by fans.

She also is fond of incorporating references to Japanese and other folklore in her stories. Her ability to produce thousands of pages of superb art and write clever and humorous plots and dialogue for Japan’s weekly manga publications is nothing short of astounding.